The 2018 Benton County Bird Sit Fundraiser happened two days ago, on Saturday, September 24ht. We had reasonably good weather throughout our 15 hours at the blind. We saw or heard a total of 80 species (1 less than last year's sit) from our predetermined 17ft diameter circle. We saw lots of cool birds, saw a lot of people, and had a lot of fun! We still don't have the total amount of money raised, but will post it when we find out. Please note that we are still accepteding doanations A full list with photos can be seen at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48684910.
We started the sit at 5:30 am with a Barred Owl and at least four Great Horned. While it was still dark the geese on the marsh were making a racket (which made it rather difficult to hear the owls). Among the calls of the 300 Canada Geese we managed to pick out several Greater White Fronted and Cackling Geese, our first of the season.
Once it got light (at about 6:30) we started to scope and count the birds on the marsh. On the expanse of mudflats on the far side of Cabell we picked out the continuing AMERICAN AVOCET ,which had been found several days previously. We also had distant views of a Red-necked Phalarope, which left after only 15 minutes. Also on the marsh were over 50 American White Pelicans, along with a nice assortment of migrant shorebirds and ducks.
Around 7:00 we were joined by two more teen birders! Tye Jeske and Joshua Galpern from Eugene, who stayed for about 10 hours! Later in the morning we were joined by Kai and Ben Frueh, teen birders who helped organize the sit in 2016 and 2017. They stayed for several hours.
Around 11:00 a large falcon zoomed over the blind, which we initially passed off as a juvenile Peregrine. Later, while reviewing photos we realized that it was actually a PRAIRIE FALCON, a very good find in Benton County (especially given the time of year). Later in the day we saw two "real" Peregrine Falcons.
Birding slowed way down in the afternoon. We concentrated our efforts on finding a few common species that we managed to miss earlier. Incredibly we didn't see a Robin until 4:00pm and we nearly missed Belted Kingfisher.
Once it got dark again we started to listen for owls again. We heard two Barred, the same number of Great Horned, and One Western Screech-Owl, our last and 80th specie for the sit.
At the end of the day we had a few crazy misses. The worst of which were probably American Goldfinch and California Quail. In addition to these we also missed: Bald Eagle, Lincoln's Sparrow, and Red-breasted Sapsucker, all of which should be fairly easy to find. We saw both American Goldfinch and Lincoln's Sparrow outside of our predetermined 17ft diameter circle, but sadly could not see or hear the within it and therefore could not count them. In addition to these we saw the following species from outside of the circle: Western Wood-Pewee, Western Tanager, Virginia rail, and Hermit Thrush.
Overall a great day,
Isaac and Jacob (the 2018 BCBS team)
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